About this month...

You were so nice to ask if I was OK! So I'm going to tell you 2 stories about things that happened to me this month, one of which relates to this blog. #1: I ordered something off Amazon.com, and a woman in California was mistakenly billed for it. I am not sure that she called to have the charge removed. But she Googled me, left 4 increasingly angry voicemails on my landline, and then she went to Facebook and looked at my photos (which I had thought were private) and read all of my blog postings. So when I called her to tell her to knock it off, she proceeded to tell me how beautiful my house was and how wonderful it was that I played the harp. Yuck, I still feel nasty about this. (And if you're that woman reading my new post, yes I have saved all 4 voicemails, and yes, what you did is called harrassment...) And story #2: We finished mixing our little 3-track CD and began to play it out at coffehouses, etc. I was not sure how to pronounce the composer's first name - Catriona - so I messaged a famous American harpist whose name you would recognize, who is friends with me on FaceBook, to ask her the correct pronounciation. She then messaged me back 5-6 paragraphs about copyright, ethics, etc. As I was not expectiing a lecture, just the composer's name, I was a little (well, alot!) taken aback and maybe even offended. I am over that now, but needed to take a bit of time off. Thanks for listening, ladies!
Now, about playiing the harp!! So far this month we have mixed our little CD, and we have an interesting little pre-loaded program on our computer that lets us make a laser-inscribed label for it, so that's been fun designing. I love, love, LOVE my new tuner, thank you so much for the recommendation. Since it looks like I won't be having knee surgery this summer after all, I was thinking of driving to the Vermont Carolan weekend. Will I feel out-of-place because everyone will know everyone else and I'll be a goober on the sidelines? I can actually play quite a few O'Carolan tunes because I love the Sue Richards book, but if everyone plays let's say Grainne's arrangements maybe I'll just look like an amateur. (On this subject, do either of you know why Sue Richards is not on the docket at Somerset?)

End of the Month Wrap-Up
Played at a new-to-us coffeehouse last weekend. We were assured by friends who've performed there previously that it was a quiet little affair. All acts toss their names in a hat, and then the order of performers is determined by the order that names are pulled out. 2 song limit unless you're the featured act. Our name was pulled third from last, and we waited 2 HOURS to perform!This is not good for a person with performance anxiety (well, it's probably not good for anyone)! Had committed everything to memory, but by the time we went on was sure I had forgotten everythng. Hands shook, fumbled through occasionally, but survived as usual, and MC said following our performance "THIS is why it pays to stay 'til the end of the evening." Sending off our new 3-track CD to a New Hampshire museum that pays $350 for a 2-hour gig. We think we're the only Celtic harp/guitar duo in the state, so anything is possible. Happy Memorial Day to you both!